“Obama Is Not The Messiah & Google’s Net Negative”

The Polemicist

by Michael House

LONDON, England—(Weekly Hubris)—3/1/10—In a previous incarnation, I wrote a weekly column for a few months, until I came up against an online newspaper publisher who believed in free speech for homophobes but not for their critics, and who attacked me on the site but refused to let me reply. In short, a hypocritical asshole. The contrast with my saintly new proprietor will become clear, I hope and believe, over the following weeks.

First up, a brief review of the current state of our two world superpowers, The US and China: both wielding huge power but in poor shape morally.  I often think of America as a creature with the body of a giant and the brain of small child. I love many Americans—Reader, I married one—but the proportion of knuckle-scraping Neanderthals in an advanced culture is staggering. So, I am going to start the year (but NOT the decade—one year still to go) with some unsolicited advice.

To Republicans: Grow up. Obama won the election. Live with it. “My party went down, so I’m going to drag my country down with it” is unlikely to be a winning electoral slogan outside districts where necks are vermillion. One day you will recover power. The tactics you are using could be used against you, if the Democrats ever discover a backbone.

To Democrats: What’s the matter with you people? You have a perfect storm. You have a President, you control the House handsomely, you have a fillibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Do you, too, want Obama to fail? To be a lame duck who can’t get any decent reforms through Congress? When you Senators and Representatives decide how to vote on bills, just remember that the well-organized private health lobby, the big-oil climate-change deniers and the religious nutters are not The Voice of The People. Don’t be stampeded by lobbyists into hamstringing Obama’s agenda. If he can’t get his measures through, he looks weak and ineffectual. He may not be re-elected. Say this out loud, and see how you like it: “President Sarah Palin.” You may say it couldn’t happen. Bush happened—why not Palin?

To The President: Being nice to Republicans doesn’t work. Ever. Bipartisanship cannot work with wreckers. Use every ounce of your power to punish the extremists in Congress.  No more White House visits or dinners or photo-ops with the President. Freeze these people out. They can’t get any more bitter and twisted than they are already. By all means make nice with the handful of moderate Republicans in Congress. And close Guantanamo NOW!

To The Left (or, What Passes for The Left in The US): Obama is not the Messiah. Don’t project your inflated expectations on him and then blame him when he falls short.  Support him; lobby him; make your views felt. But don’t start to use the language of betrayal against a man who is only a man, and who has to deal with a Congress composed largely of spineless Democrats and malevolent Republicans. He’s doing the best he can. When the health care bill turns out not to be The End of Civilization as We Know It, public opinion will turn and improvements can be made. Use your energies to unseat and replace right-wing Democrats. Support local environmental initiatives across America. Don’t leave it all to Big Government.

And now, on to China: some good news for a change. Google may be about to reverse its disgusting policy of allowing the Chinese dictatorship to censor its content. Google Tiananmen Square Massacre or Tibetan independence or human rights activists and you will get—nothing. It has made the company’s motto, “Don’t be evil,” into a sick joke. Co-founder of Google, Sergey Brin, has said that the decision to censor content was “a net negative.” Google has 29 percent of the Chinese market, trying to catch up with Yahoo—whom I have excoriated in a previous incarnation—and Microsoft.

Let us hope that this is the start of a trend. China grows more arrogant as it grows more powerful. It recently carried out the judicial murder of a mentally-ill British citizen for drug-trafficking: the British government could do nothing but make fruitless representations. Shortly before, British Foreign Secretary and banana-enthusiast David Milliband tried to suck up to the Chinese by “recognizing” that Tibet was part of China. But he grovelled to no avail. His representations were treated with disdain by the tyrants.

China’s present economic power is based largely on exports. The West is delighted to buy the cheap trash that pours out of the country. The only language they understand is the language of power. Concessions are regarded as weakness. However, banning Chinese exports would not work.  Free trade is essential to a healthy world economy. But a boycott of Chinese goods would be another matter. If they cannot shift their goods, they are denied foreign exchange, and unemployment is created, leading to unrest and, perhaps, eventually, an overthrow of the system. The Chinese as a whole seem to be prepared to tolerate living in a gulag so long as their standard of living rises. It is a trade-off. But if their living standards stop rising, things may change. And no empire lasts forever.

China has provided the West with goods that would cost far more to produce at home. But they are not the only Asian economic powerhouse.  India, Pakistan and Bangladesh—democracies, albeit imperfect ones—and Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand all produce cheap goods. There are alternatives to Chinese imports.

So, how about a belated New Year’s Resolution? When you buy something, examine the label. If it says “Made in China,” don’t buy it. Tell the salesperson why.  Ask for goods from other Asian countries—probably just as cheap. If everyone in the West boycotted Chinese goods, the effect would be enormous.

And let us put pressure on our leaders to stop treating the Chinese government with kid gloves. Perhaps Google will show the way.